Writing: 4.5; Theme: 5.0; Content: 4.5; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5

After a large portion of the population disappears, a group of unlikely individuals unite to form a Christian coalition to witness to those left behind. They call themselves, Tribulation Force. Highly recommend.

***May 19, 2024*** ( )

I read the book and saw the movie. Although Kirk Cameron did an excellent job in the movie, I absolutley love the book better. This a great read for christians and non christians. This a fiction so keep in mind that is not based on true event but lots of references to the Bible. I have not put this series down yet. I am on book four Soul Harvest and I am really like it ( )

I'd read this once before, quite a long time ago, but, I have to admit when I read it this time, I remembered nothing of the story. It's a good read and I will be reading more of the books in this series. ( )

I reread this Christian "classic" over the weekend---the first time in about 20 years. Like before, it inspires me to look more into prophecy and how it lines up with headlines---but it's still got its annoying flaws.

It's always bugged me the nonchalant way Rayford approaches the first few hours after the Rapture happens. I'd expect him to be in shock, panicking, psycho-emotional about what he knows in his gut has happened to his wife and young son. Instead, he's almost nonchalant when he makes his calls home: "I sure hope you're there." or "Well at least he knew Chloe was still around." Yeah...there's that...

Also annoying is Chloe's comment about not believing in ghosts (of her mother and brother) as she hangs out at home. What?! What weirdo says that just hours after losing loved ones?

Again, they're sorta lousily written but they're also strangely addicting. So...I press on. If my library has all 12, I'm sure I'll be through them within a month. ( )

I knew the book would be preachy, but the narrative became painfully obvious after 150 pages. The main character suddenly believes in God, the Bible, Jesus and the Rapture instantaneously. This after expousing his years and years of total disbelief. After his conversion, he speaks with a priest who wasn't taken (go figure) and just like that, literally within two sentences, he is 100% born again. His daughter Chloe, is skeptical and obviously is meant to be the voice of those who question all things religious.

The priest plays a tape from the pastor who was taken. The tape was made to explain to all who were left behind, just what happened and why. It is on this tape that the pastor warns all viewers of the arrival of the anti-Christ. Lo and behold, 35 pages later, as if on cue, he appears in the form of a Romanian president who is young, charismatic, very smart and who wins over the entire press and all world leaders while giving a speech at the UN. This happens around page 235.

It is at this point in the book that I knew exactly where this story was going, how it would end and how the next book in the series would be setup. And sure as snow is white, it turned out exactly as I predicted.

I was raised Catholic and was curious about the book. I was able to relate to the daughter, who spoke for all of the skeptics of the world. IMHO, like the Bible, this book is a work of fiction. And not very good fiction at that. The writing is geared towards junior high school readers and is very simplistic in structure, dialog and predictability. These problems, along with the fact that it preachers to the reader, I felt to be very demeaning. In short, the message is if you are not a believer, a Born-again Christian, you don't have a chance of getting into the Kingdom of Heaven. As Chloe says, "that's pretty sad for a loving God."

Books like this are not for me and I have no desire to read any of the other books in the series. ( )